Maehara Has a Lesson for China

Japan’s foreign minister issued a veiled call for China to pursue democratic changes, citing Indonesia as a country that has earned respect by electing its president and allowing freedom of speech.

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Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara takes a question after speaking at The Center for Strategic and International Studies Jan. 6 in Washington.

Seiji Maehara focused on Asia in a half-hour speech at a Washington think tank, delivered in English shortly after he arrived in the U.S. capital for a visit through Sunday.

Mr. Maehara spoke repeatedly of a “new order” in Asia and said it should be built “through cooperation, instead of under hegemony.” He called for “institutional foundations embodying the rule of law [and] democracy.”

Without explicitly drawing a link to China, the foreign minister praised Indonesia as a democratic success story. He said Asians trust Indonesia as a leader in the region because it “elects its president through direct ballot and is enjoying political stability as a democratic state by respecting the freedom of speech.”

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